31 years ago, she started as a Benjies hostess. Now she’s buying the Santa Ana restaurant.
Chanele Halkett, who has waited tables at the beloved deli for decades, plans some renovations but will keep the restaurant's old-school vibe intact.
Thirty-one years ago, Chanele Halkett, in her early twenties and looking for a summer job to earn money while pondering her prospects, found a job listing in the now-defunct Pennysaver paper for a hostess position at Benjies NY Deli, a Jewish diner in Santa Ana. She was hired immediately and within a few weeks was promoted to server. Soon thereafter, she became the operations manager, a post she would hold for the next three decades.
“I loved it, I just absolutely loved it the moment I started here” said Halkett shortly after the day’s shift ended, still wearing her apron armed with a pen and order pad.
Today, Halkett is poised to take the ownership reins at Benjies NY Deli, inheriting its history, loyal customers, well-worn decor and future.
The birth of Benjies
Opening in October 1967 by Stan Weinstein, who left Brooklyn in the 1940s with his family to start fresh in the Golden State, and his wife, Ellie, the Tustin Avenue deli became a hit with denizens care of Weinstein’s menu of matzo ball soup, skyscraper-high triple-decker sandwiches, brisket melts, burgers, pastrami concoctions and deli counter staples.
“The menu is a duplicate of any delis you will find in New York City,” said Lloyd Weinstein, Stan’s son who took over the business in the 1980s. “Our recipes came from my grandma in the German-, Russian-cooking style.”
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Customers came in droves, especially from the nearby Temple Beth Sholom, to get their hands on substantial dishes inside the venue. Unlike today’s prevalence of minimalist tables and decor, more is more at Benjies. Its maximalist philosophy, so refreshing in these times, can still be seen from the ample amount of seating, ranging from the diner counter to the upholstered banquettes that grace the restaurant’s two dining spaces.
Benjies’ vast menu that boasts more than 200 menu items — another break in today’s era of minimalist menus that routinely pare down dishes, jettisoning items deemed unpopular. But most of Benjies’ clientele, many of which have been coming back for decades, already know what they want. “I’ll have the usual” is common parlance.
“Most patrons don’t even need the seven-page, 200-item menu,” said Halkett. “We always know their name and what they want.”
Speaking of big, Benjies’ triple-decker sandwiches stand as towering achievements of glorious, layered excess. “My attitude has always been to never tell the cooks that they’re putting in too much,” said Lloyd Weinstein. “If I see too much meat, I shut my mouth because somebody is going to be really happy about that.”
Indeed, the triple-decker menu, which features five sandwich iterations, highlights the art of sandwich making, harking back to the days of yore when piling high house-cut meat was the norm. While these formidable sandwiches at Benjies are pricier than, say, an In-N-Out Double Double (prices on the triple decker menu range from $21.50 to $ 22.50), it’s quite the deal considering the amount of food makes for two meals (doggie bags are the norm at Benjies).
“All it takes is seeing our sandwiches one time,” said Halkett. “Someone will order a pastrami sandwich, and the first thing they say is, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so huge.’ But then they take half of it home, and realize they have a whole other meal. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s your dinner tonight and your lunch tomorrow.”
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After Lloyd Weinstein took over operations in the 1980s, he added a bar to the restaurant, christened Avenue K Bar (named after the Brooklyn street where Stan spent his childhood), partitioned off by a separate entrance found just off the welcoming area. Its vibe and decor are comparatively darker than the dining spaces, befitting for a lounge with a full bar and booth seating.
Servers today, many of whom have worked here for more than a decade, still take orders using order pads in lieu of newfangled POS terminals. “They’re so cold, there’s no eye contact,” Halkett said of the devices. “I don’t want to go to handhelds.”
Chanele’s arrival
Born in New York and raised in Orange, Halkett’s divergence from her degree in English literature into the culinary realm was a god shot. “My whole family laughs at the fact that I went into the restaurant business since they’re all pretty much in the industry too,” she said. “This was meant to be for me. I went to school for English Lit, and then after coming here I realized, ‘No, this is me. This is what I love to do.’”
Promoted to server back when smoking sections were still a thing — “I laugh when I think about smoking sections, because smoke never stayed in any section,” she said — she was promoted to assistant manager in the late ’90s before taking control as operations manager of Benjies. “I think it’s been about 20 or 22 years since I have been running the whole thing,” she said.
In those years, Halkett and Weinstein, who have worked elbow-to-elbow for decades, have become family members to each other, with their respective families following suit.
“[Lloyd] and I, for 32 years now, we can go at it like cats and dogs,” she said, while Lloyd, enjoying a small packet of jam, sits next to her smiling in agreement. “Truly, we we can go back and forth, and then five minutes later, it’s like, ‘I love you.’”
The duo’s familiar love for one another is clear, from the energy they display to each other during a photo shoot to reminiscing about the days of yore. She adds, “He’s Jewish and I’m Italian. I joke around that we have the same guilt. Fighting doesn’t matter. We’re family here.”
As the years moved on and Lloyd, who, in addition to owning the storied restaurant also takes on duties as maintenance man, has heard retirement beckoning. In lieu of selling the restaurant to unfamiliar outsiders, who might want to tear down its history, turning it over to Halkett was the next right move.
“I can’t let this place go,” she explained. “For his family, for what they built and, granted, for me too, because this is my life, too, I’ve been here for so long.”
In addition to keeping Benjies’ legacy alive, Halkett also says that the restaurant’s staff, many of whom have served customers here for years, also deserve to work another day. “Lloyd kept going and going because he felt that they’re all family as well, and he didn’t want to put anyone out.”
The road ahead
As Orange County’s gastronomic landscape evolves and takes on new shapes, ranging from James Beard Foundation honors to the change in diners’ palette, Halkett understands the challenges ahead of her.
“I started doing our TikTok, with Lloyd’s son-in-law doing the other social media,” she said. “Customers are all on social media; that’s how you have to get your word out there, especially if we want the younger clientele.”
Weinstein adds that the big chains provide the biggest challenge as of late. “Trying to compete in the market with chains with lots of money that create environments for young people and fast food chains that provide food for half the price, those are big challenges when running a casual dining restaurant.
Once formal papers are signed and ownership is turned over to Halkett, which she says will happen within a few months, she plans on sprucing up the place. A new coat of paint. New flooring to replace the carpet. But not too much, she stresses. “I realized that Benjies can never be anything other than what it is,” she said. (Halkett has started a GoFundMe to help buffer the costs of any renovations she faces once ownership changes hands.)
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What Benjies has on its side is undeniable authenticity. The pitched ceiling. The diner countertop. The weathered sign outside. The Keith Haring posters on the wall. The charming dissonance between the cocktail lounge and dining areas. And the customer base, young and old. Studies aimed at helping companies market to Gen Z suggest that authenticity is their most valued trait. Benjies offers a genuine quality, in both its appearance and fare, that many newfangled new restaurants with cynical, superficial Instagrammable aesthetics lack
“Benjies has a ‘Cheers’ atmosphere,” said Halkett. “I know it’s so cliche to say, but it’s true — everyone wants to go somewhere where everybody knows your name.”
More than just a diner and deli, Benjies offers a legit sense of belonging. Halkett plans to continue that tradition — knowing your name, your order and exactly what you like from the bar.
